Staff volunteers from Copthorne Lakefront and Copthorne Lakeview in Queenstown, New Zealand, took a special trip up the Ben Lomond Track to care for local flora and fauna. The hotels have adopted a plot along the track in support of the Wakatipu Wildling Conifer Control Group (WGC). The area the hotels take care of measures five hectares (almost equivalent to five football fields!), and is along Ben Lomond, a mountain in Otago, which reaches a height of 1,748 metres at its summit.

The main aim of the programme is to prevent the overgrowing of wilding pines in the area and remove grown wilding pines so that they do not propagate. An invasive species, wildling pines not only overtake views of the landscape and trails, but also affect local flora and fauna. Plants such as tussock grass and beech trees are killed due to the pines’ acidity, and birds that nest in these areas will move away.

To preserve the local environment, hotel staff make several trips in groups of four to six to the track during the summer months to look after the adopted area. This includes clearing the seedlings, pulling them out from the roots, and cutting taller trees at its lowest point with no branches to ensure that there is no regrowth. The trips are also a way to educate new staff about the hotels’ commitment to the local environment.

The two hotels, together with Millennium Queenstown, have supported WCG since 2012 and has adopted the plot on the Ben Lomond Track since 2016. WCG is a not-for-profit organisation focused on protecting the biodiversity and landscape of Wakatipu in the Otago region of New Zealand.